


Game Night at Beacon Academy: TABARZIN 20,000: ASTRAL DERELICT - Campaign Mode

by Kiiratam



Series: Game Nights at Beacon Academy & Beyond [11]
Category: RWBY, Warhammer 40.000
Genre: By Way of Left 4 Dead, Canon Compliant, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Space Hulk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-25 17:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20915663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: +++ BEGIN TRANSMISSION. SECURITY LEVEL ALPHA-NINER-SECUNDUS. ++++ASTRAL KNIGHTS DEPLOYING+StrawberrySluggeris aGunnery Sergeant of the Marine Order.MewMewis aPaladin of Martel Cathedral.BlackCat13is aTechknight of the Augmetic Order.LotusAxeaxeinis aGrenadier of the Order of the Cog & Giblet.SicaSonis aKnight of the Order of the Axe.HotterThanUis aKnight of the Order of the Axe.+DESTINATION+The Astral DerelictWailing of Widows+MISSION OBJECTIVES+Download Data Cores from Command & Control. Return to deployment zone for extraction.+THOUGHT FOR THE DAY+It is better to live one day as a lion, then ten thousand years as a mouse.+++END TRANSMISSION+++(Takes place between Volumes 2 and 3. (My BMBLB fic index))





	Game Night at Beacon Academy: TABARZIN 20,000: ASTRAL DERELICT - Campaign Mode

**Author's Note:**

> [Recommended intro music.](https://youtu.be/U_MtDLUdL78)

"I don't want to rush anyone, BUT THEY'RE **EATING** ME HERE." Blake's headset automatically adjusted for Nora's increased volume. It had to do that a lot. "And they're a lot less cute when they're eating _me_." Nora thought Vorpalites, spiky alien space bugs from beyond the stars, were _cute_?

  
Beside Blake, Yang said, "Maybe next time, don't immediately charge ahead? Reloading." Her heavily armored avatar started feeding shells into her shotgun, and Blake shifted her aim to cover Yang. Brought down the couple of vorpalmites that broke from the feeding frenzy.

  
"Frag out. " Ren lobbed a grenade over their heads. Directly at Nora's downed character, barely visible beneath a swarm of vorpalmites.

  
"Ooooh, a new melee weapon! Thanks, Ren!" Nora kept talking, but Blake lost her words in the pinging of metal shards and splatter of vorpalite viscera.

  
Yang kept stomping forward, using her boarding shotgun at point blank range. "Hey, SicaSon, HotterThanU, close up. If you get in trouble, it'll be hard for us to know." Yang keyed her microphone off, and muttered at Blake. "Who plays Astral Derelict without a mike? It takes a minute to set up, tops." She switched her mike back on, moving a little bit past Nora, gunning down the last few stragglers of the chitinous horde.

  
Rushing forward, Blake popped open Nora's diagnostic plate, playing through the little 'don't touch the walls' maze minigame to get her up again. There was no real way to fail the minigame. If you hit the walls, it just reset you to the start of the maze. It was just more precious seconds where you couldn't defend yourself. Ren was already busy at the bulkhead door, getting it open.

  
Nora's avatar struggled to her feet, and reactivated her inferno-hammer. "Thanks, Blake! Let's get smashing!" She moved forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Yang, the plasma field of her hammer shimmering.

  
"Okay, everyone." Yang fed a few more shells into her shotgun. "We're just getting to CiC, downloading the data, and getting back out. Nora, we're in front. Stay close."

  
"Keep up."

  
Yang turned to Blake and rolled her eyes. "Sica, Hotter, you're in the middle. Pick off anything that gets through, cover our flanks." SicaSon didn't respond, but HotterThanU turned to face Yang and nodded. "Blake, Ren, you're on rearguard. Yell if you need help, but stay with us. Nora's setting the pace."

  
The bulkhead door lurched open with a sinister groan, but Nora's laughter was creepier. She switched on her armor's flashlight, and stomped forward into the dark of the ruined spaceship, Yang following a few paces behind.

* * *

"Blake! Today?!" Yang fired, Blake hearing the meaty thunk of a slug slamming home. "Reloading!"

  
Fighting off the adrenaline shakes, Blake kept working through the lock. Finished another layer. Two left. Higher security. The maze would be rotating while she worked. Blake wasn't sure if she really loved this aspect of the game, but someone had to play the gearhead. She and Ren had been switching off on hacking locks and panels. But they needed redundancy, in case one of them didn't make it. Blake blew out a breath, shook her hand, and started on the next maze. It was kind of fun, in the frantic sort of way. It demanded precision and speed... which was probably why Ren and her kept getting stuck with it. Yang just got frustrated with it, and Nora loved the combat too much. And they couldn't trust random people who joined their game to do it.

  
One left. Blake heard the roar of Nora's hammer as it went critical, vaporizing whatever poor thing it hit. Nora's laughter was doubled, through Blake's headset, and drifting in under the door.

  
Ren's voice cut in. "Vorpagon Rex incoming."

  
_Halfway there._ "I'm almost through." _Focus. Breathe._

  
"Nora, if you charge it, I will let it eat you." Yang primed an incendiary grenade. "Where is it, Ren?"

  
"Not sure. Too many echoes." Ren readied a grenade of his own.

  
"Open!" The door spiraled open in front of Blake, and she was greeted by a huge, chitinous monster, bent nearly double, with scything arms that were almost too big for the hallway. Blake's only saving grace was that it was probably as surprised as she was. She yelped, grabbed her SMG, and held down the trigger. Even one-handed, the recoil throwing off her aim more and more, she could barely miss. And it barely seemed to notice.

  
Yang glanced over at her, then at her screen. Swore. Tossed her grenade down the hallway she was facing. "Nora! It's here!" She started wheeling around herself.

  
Her SMG dry, Blake let it go. One of her mecha-tentacles grabbed it, started reloading. Blake, not wanting to be between Nora and her prey, and not knowing what the situation was like behind her, went the only direction she could. Forward, ducking to the side, pulling her knife as she went. Only in this game would anything that big be called a knife.

  
Blake hacked at one of the Vorpagon's legs as she slid past it, trying to stay inside of its reach. She couldn't pay attention to what anyone else was doing, just heard Nora whooping and clash of chitin and armor, and the sizzle of plasma striking home. She just hoped there wasn't anything else -

  
Her view of the gameworld tilted sickeningly, pointing at the ceiling, and the screen suddenly seemed to be covered in strawberry jam. Something had hit her. Hard. Blake tried to reorient herself, ready her weapon, but her avatar just drew her sidearm. In the wrong hand, aim point wobbling. A vorpalwight face filled her view, hissing, and she tried to bring it into her sights. As it was about to rip her face off, a shotgun blast blew it off of her.

  
Yang started helping her up. "Don't worry, arms grow back." Beyond Yang, Blake could see the Vorpagon. The two other players had charged in with Nora, hacking at it with heckhound axes. Between the three of them, they'd nearly liquefied it. And then set that liquid on fire.

  
Ren had fallen back to the threshold of the door, tossing a couple of slowburn incendiaries behind them. "That won't hold them long."

  
Blake looked down on the ground for the arm the vorpalwight had ripped off. Found it, and let one of her mecha-tentacles grab it. Her avatar was mostly a cyborg at this point anyway. What was one more aug-limb?

  
"Okay, everyone, form up. Hotter, stick with-" Yang glanced over at Blake's nameplate. "-BlackCat, and cover her. Sica, stay with, uh, LotusAxeaxein in the rear. Nora, lead on."

  
Ren piped up as he reloaded. "Shouldn't we seal this door? They'll have a route right at us."

  
"More to smash!" At least Nora was thinking of the positives.

  
Yang thought for a moment. "It's worth the risk. We don't have to find a new way back to the extraction point."

  
"All right." Ren fell to the back, along with SicaSon, and Nora started moving forward again. Blake awkwardly readied her SMG in her off hand, stabilizing it with a mecha-tentacle. It wouldn't be accurate, but it was better than trying to survive with just a pistol. She'd just have to substitute weight of fire for accuracy. Blake hoped her ammo held out.

  
"Ren, I've got all the doors from here on out. You're still combat ready." Stupid vorpalwights and their limb-lopping. At least she'd get plenty of practice with the unlocking minigame.

* * *

Blake called out, "Nora!" Nora had just finished off the Vorpagon attacking from the left, and had started lumbering back to the group. Which was when the vorpalwight pack had emerged from the vents and pounced.

  
Everyone else was pouring fire at the other Vorpagon. SicaSon had gotten too greedy, and the Vorpagon had chomped down on his leg. Ren was dragging him out of the fight, back to the relative safety of the data cores. As the download steadily ticked on. It was so close. Yang and HotterThanU were flanking the Vorpagon, drawing it after one of them, then the other.

  
Before she'd gone down, Nora had done a broad, sweeping strike that pulped one vorpalwight, and near-crippled two more with plasma burns. Which just left two intact for Blake.

  
She took a deep breath, and pretended she was Yang. Blake charged forward, firing in short bursts that did more to attract the pack's attention than damage them. All four of them looked up at her, beady black eyes catching the light from her suit's light. They coiled, and threw themselves forward at her.

  
Three of them did, at least. Nora had reached out and grabbed the leg on one of the injured ones. And, unable to stop itself in time, physics tore its leg clean off.

  
Blake dropped to her knees, armor plates screaming on the metal as she slid into a crouch. Her aim point resolved from 'somewhere in front of the barrel, probably' to something almost acceptable. The first one crossed into her aim point, and she squeezed the trigger, letting the recoil help her stay on target as it closed. With half of her magazine pumped into it, the vorpalwight went down, splattering her faceplate with ichor. She shifted her aim to the second - too close, too close! She started firing anyway, her bullets ripping apart the vorpalwight's arms as it lunged in, bowling her over with its weight. Her SMG had skittered off somewhere, and for the second time this game, there was a hissing vorpalwight in her face. And no Yang around to save her.

  
Her mecha-tentacle slapped her pistol into her hand, and she emptied her magazine into its face. It dropped.

  
The last vorpalwight was still coming, almost there, claws outstretched, one leg dragging, mouth open wide. Dropping her pistol for her mecha-tentacles to reload, Blake pulled a flashbang and dropped it at her own feet. Closed her eyes and hoped it would buy her enough time. At least she wouldn't have to stare down another vorpalwight throat, if it didn't.

  
Blake's headphones fed a painful buzz into her ears. Not authentic at all, but pretty good at discouraging the stupid stunt she'd just pulled. Still blind, mostly deaf, she crawled off to one side.

  
Her vision started to clear, and her pistol, reloaded, was back in her hand. Same terrible aim point. And the vorpalwight was close. But it hadn't expected her to move, so it had just gone forward, and was flailing at the deckplating with its claws. She forced herself to her feet, and put as many bullets as she could as close to its head as she could.

  
It wasn't pretty, but it did the job. Blake passed her pistol to her mecha-tentacles, and looked for Nora. She'd crawled over to the vorpalwight whose leg she had torn off, and just squeezed it until it popped. If Blake hadn't known that her armor was pink, she certainly couldn't tell now.

  
"Left side secure." Blake said. She hadn't been able to keep track of Yang and Ren's chatter, but she could give them a status update, at least. "Getting Nora up."

  
As Blake played through the mini-game, Nora said, "Sorry you have to keep doing this."

  
A message flashed across the bottom of her screen. <SicaSon: Uh, oh, mom's home. Gotta go!>

  
Blake glanced over at Yang, who was still intent on her dance with the Vorpagon Rex. Too busy to switch her microphone off, she just had her jaw clenched.

  
<_SicaSon has left the game._>

  
Nora's armor reactivated, and Blake spun her avatar around. Ren was reloading by the data cores, next to SicaSon's former avatar. Who was holding...

  
"Ren, run!"

  
The Vorpagon Rex spun around to face HotterThanU.

  
Ren dashed forward, but not fast enough. The anti-armor grenade went off, killing the uninhabited avatar, and blowing Ren across the deck.

  
<HotterThanU: Bye!>

  
<_HotterThanU has left the game._>

  
During the switch-over between player and AI, the Vorpagon swung its scythe arm and bisected HotterThanU's ex-avatar.

  
Blake frowned. Who _did_ stuff like this? "Jerks."

  
Ren's voice had an uncharacteristic bite. "I'm down. Blake, if you're free?"

  
Nora hobbled at the Vorpagon, inferno-hammer in hand. "More for us!"

  
<_Data Core Download Complete._>

  
Yang charged forward, pressing her shotgun into the Vorpagon's back, blazing away on full auto. It jerked, and slumped over. "Time to go! Nora, start clearing the way. I'll grab the datapack."

* * *

_"If you two are finished playing games...?"_

  
_ "Sorry, Cinder."_

  
_ "We ruined the bimbo's match, at least."_

**Author's Note:**

> [Recommended extro music.](https://youtu.be/4BySyQ1pu0U)


End file.
